midterm grantt rough draft

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Televisions Effect on Grades 1

Television and Grades.

Effects of Television and Receiving free lunch on Grades

Thomas Grant

SOWK 300 MW

Ms. McArthur

2/23/2012


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Abstract:

This paper will discuss how watching television can have an effect on students test scores. I will discusshow the amount of television watched per weekday will have a positive or negative effect on scoreswhile also examining if this will be effected by sex of the respondent and also if the respondents receive

free lunch. I will also use graphs to further illustrate the results of my findings to enhance thepresentation quality of this report. Then I will discuss the results and why I think the results came outthe way they did.


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Hypothesis:

The bivariate relationship is the number of hours a student watches television on weekdays hasan effect on the students overall mathematics proficiency test scores for 8 th grade students. Theindependent variable for this is The number of hours the students watching television on a weekday.

This variable is broken down into four values. The first is 2 or fewer hours, the second is 2-4 hours, thethird is 4 or more hours and the final value is for missing responses. The independent variable has aneffect on the dependent variable which is The overall mathematics proficiency test scores for 8 th gradestudents. The values for this are Level one and below, followed by level 1 and 2, followed by all 3levels, then finally a value for missing responses. The control variables that we will be using are going tobe the sex of the respondent which is broken down by male and female. Also we will use The percent inschool who receive free lunch as the second control variable. The values for this are broken down bypercent with the first being 1-30% , the second value being 31-75% , and the third being 76-100% ,and the last value accounting for missing responses.

One of the multivariate phrases is number of hours students watches television on weekdayshas an effect on the overall mathematics proficiency exam test scores for 8 th grade students controllingfor sex of respondent. The sex of the respondents should have an effect on the both the numbers of hours TV that watched on a weekday and also the test scores. The second multivariate phrase is thenumber of hours a student watches television on weekdays has an effect on overall mathematicsproficiency exam test scores for 8 th grade students controlling for the percent in school who receiveschool lunch. I think that this control variable will have more of an impact on the amount of TV that iswatched which will then in turn affect the test scores.

Rationale:

I think that the more television that is watched during the weekdays will have a negative effecton the overall math proficiency test scores. I think this because the more television that is watched theless time that can be spent studying. The less time that the student has to study the more likely they areto score lower on their test.

I also think that in regards to the multivariate phrase where the control variable is sex of respondent, that female s will score higher than the male s. This is because at that age females havebeen known to score higher test than males. Also I think females are less likely to watch as much TV asmales at this age. Lastly, I think that control variable the percent who receive free lunch will have apositive effect on test scores. This is because the students who receive free lunch are from a lower

family income that will be less likely to be able to afford a television or be able to purchase as manychannels as a student with a higher income that does not receive free lunch.


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Results:

Table 1Overall Math Proficiency by Number of Hours R Watch s TV on Weekdays (%)

Number of Hours TV is Watched

Overall MathProficiency

2 or Less 2-4 4 or More Totals

Level 1 and Below 41.9 50.6 61.5 50.2

Level 1 and 2 24.8 25.5 23.6 24.8

All 3 Levels 33.3 23.9 14.9 25.0

Totals 34.6 41.4 23.9 100.0

(N) 3207 3837 2213 9257

Source: National Education Longitudinal Study: Base Year Through Fourth Follow-Up, 1988-2000


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Table 2Overall Math Proficiency by Number of Hours R Watch s TV on Weekdays

Controlling for R s Sex (%)

Number of Hours TV is Watched

Overall MathProficiency


Male Respondents

Level 1 and Below 38.1 48.0 58.2 47.1

Level 1 and 2 26.1 26.1 25.2 25.9

All 3 Levels 35.8 25.9 16.6 27.0

Totals 33.9 42.3 23.8 100.0

(N) 1465 1829 1026 4320

Female Respondents

Level 1 and Below 45.1 53.1 64.3 53.0

Level 1 and 2 23.7 24.7 22.1 23.7

All 3 Levels 31.2 22.2 13.6 23.3

Totals 35.2 40.7 24.1 100.0

(N) 1720 1984 1176 4880



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Table 3Overall Math Proficiency by Number of Hours R Watch s TV on Weekdays

Percent Free Lunch in School (%)

Number of Hours TV is WatchedOverall MathProficiency


1 30%Level 1 andBelow

36.1 46.3 56.7 44.7

Level 1 and 2 25.6 26.5 25.8 26.0

All 3 Levels 38.4 27.1 17.5 29.2

Totals 37.1 41.5 21.4 100.0

(N) 2468 2758 1423 6649


60.6 59.6 69.7 63.0

Level 1 and 2 22.6 24.0 19.1 22.1

All 3 Levels 16.8 16.4 11.2 14.9

Totals 27.2 41.9 30.9 100.0

(N) 589 909 669 2167


78.3 80.7 78.9 79.4

Level 1 and 2 14.1 14.9 15.6 14.9

All 3 Levels 7.6 4.4 5.6 5.7

Totals 31.1 38.5 30.4 100.0

(N) 92 114 90 296



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Discussion:

After reviewing the data it was shown that my hypothesis on the higher number of TV watchedon a weekday the lower the test scores would be. 33.3% of the students that watched TV 2 or fewerhours on weekdays where proficient at all 3 levels. That is they could perform at lower levels and could

do simple problem solving requiring conceptual understanding of the development of a solutionstrategy. This can be compared to the 61.5% of students who watched TV for 4 or more hours onweekdays but tested at Level 1 and below. However also looking at this data it is alarming that moststud ents results were low. 50.2% of the students where at Level 1 and below but this could be because61.5% of those students watched 4 or more hours of TV.

When looking at the data regarding my hypothesis on the female outscoring the males it wouldshow that my hypothesis was wrong. Females watched more TV with the females having 24.1%watching 4 or more hours while the males had 23.8% watching the same amount. Also males had ahigher proficiency than the female students with 27.0% of male students being proficient in all 3 levelswhile only 23.3 percent of females where proficient in all there levels. After doing some research adiscovered an article that stated On a national assessment, boys score higher in math in science, whilegirls score higher in reading. 1 This attributes to why the boys were more proficient.

When looking at the data for my hypothesis about how receiving free lunch would improve testscores it seems as if I was only partially correct. Only 296 students are included in the 76-100% of students who receives free lunch. This number is a lot lower than what I originally predicted. This is soespecially when compared to the 6649 students who fall in the 1-30% of students who receive freelunch. It would appear also that the students who receive free lunch are more likely to be less proficientin math. With 79.4% of the students in the 76-100% of students who gets free lunch scoring at level 1and below.

1 Dee, T., S. (2006). How a Teachers Gender Affects Boys and Girls. The Why Chormosome, 1(1), 69-75. Retrievedfrom http://faculty.smu.edu/millimet/classes/eco4361/readings/quality%20I/dee%2001.pdf


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References:

National Education Longitudinal Study: Base Year Through Fourth Follow-Up, 1988-2000

Dee, T., S. (2006). How a Teachers Gender Affects Boys and Girls. The Why Chormosome, 1(1), 69-75.Retrieved from http://faculty.smu.edu/millimet/classes/eco4361/readings/quality%20I/dee%2001.pdf


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Appendix:


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